Mia and the Migoo: Knock-Off Miyazaki From France

A plucky young heroine, a mystical quest to save the environment (and a missing father) from callous corporate-military development, and a band of mysterious monsters who protect a gargantuan Tree of Life: You'd be forgiven for mistaking Mia and the Migoo for the latest animated effort by Hayao Miyazaki. Narratively speaking, Jacques-Rémy Girerd's fable is a direct descendant of Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, detailing the journey of little Mia (voiced by Amanda Misquez) to find her dad, who was buried alive while working at a deteriorating resort construction site on an idyllic hidden lake. Cold, greedy businessman Jekhide (John DiMaggio) directs his fury over the project's stalling by aiming rocket launchers at the area's supernatural wonders, much to the chagrin of the tycoon's estranged son Aldrin (Vincent Agnello). This plot thread, like Mia's friendship with the jovial, towering spirit-guardian Migoo (Wallace Shawn), is drained of any magic by blunt dialogue and rudimentary conflicts. The film's character and creature designs are derivatively Miyazakian, though. its vibrantly expressionistic color helps give Mia's hand-drawn visuals (especially of shimmering subterranean foliage) their own distinct identity. Regrettably, both the condemnation of capitalist avarice and violence and the sanctification of nature and youthful innocence are dramatized only in simplistic black-and-white terms.